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09 June 2009

thirty-schmirty

Here's Rob's birthday celebrations as promised...

So his birthday was on a Tuesday this year, and we honestly didn't do much on his actual birthday. Instead, he took Friday off and we celebrated in style!

First up: the Ducati dealership.

We found the perfect family vehicle, wouldn't you agree? Max sure does.

For some reason, Max thought this place was pretty cool. Not sure why...

And we picked out our motorcycle. Isn't she beautiful? Now we just need to make some money...

Since we couldn't leave with a motorcycle, we settled on getting Rob, I mean, Max a hat.

Next up: the Lego store.
I'd been struggling to come up with something fun to do for Rob's 30th birthday, and the answer fell into my lap. We got a postcard in the mail informing us that there was a lego store opening in Raleigh, and that we were invited to come join in the festivities by helping a Lego Master build an 8-foot tall statue of Yoda (I think you just have to buy a lot of legos to get an invitation like that, and boy do we have a lot of legos). And that opening just happened to occur the weekend after Rob's birthday, so voila! Celebration question answered. Now, we weren't quite sure how this "helping" was going to happen. All Rob and I could picture was a swarm of people handing legos to the "master." But those Lego people are geniuses.

They built a little statue of Yoda out of normal-size lego pieces, and to make the 8-foot one all they did was scale it up 4 times (and I'm sorry if this is confusing, it makes perfect sense to me because we drew thousands of scaled drawing in school, so I'm going to do my best to explain it). So what all these children (and some adults) did to help out the "master" was to make a lego brick at a 4x scale using normal sized bricks.

Like so.

Here are the instructions that were all over the place.

So we built our little pile of bricks...

And then took them up to the front and turned them in. They checked each one to make sure it was constructed properly, then Max got a high-five for his hard work (little did they know, we were not there for our 2 year old child, but for my 30 year old husband).

Then we got a pass to go get an "official" certificate of participation.

This is not the Lego Mater here, but an assistant working on the statue with the assistance of the peanut gallery. Notice the string to keep the kids at bay (they gradually got close and closer to the statue as the day progressed, courtesy of many many excited children).

And then we went and waited in a long long line to actually get in the store. And Rob was a little annoyed to have to pose with the lego sign in front of a ton of other people waiting in line.

And we finally made it into the store! This was my favorite part: from outside it just looked like decoration, but the back wall was all these little cubbies with various lego pieces. They had little buckets that you would then fill with whatever various pieces you wanted and buy. It was especially great to have something interactive like this for our 2 year old who had been confined to his stroller way too long and was ready to do something.

And as tempting as it was to get the Millenium Falcon or the Deathstar, we settled for some little legos for Max. Which he proceeded to chew on (guess we're buying these, no choice) as we waited in yet another long line (and I mean long, the line was wrapped around the outer walls of the store) to purchase. I felt bad that we ended up getting stuff for Max since the plan was to let Rob pick out a set for himself (he's the one who decided to get stuff for Max), but then I realized we've bought many lego sets for "Max," that he's not allowed to touch (not yet, at least).

And here's yet another picture of Rob looking annoyed because I made him pose in front of crowds of people. But I just wanted to show how cool this was! (Granted, the proportions of the torso are a little off, but overall it's still impressive)

Then we went back to the statue and watched the Lego Master at work. I was a little diappointed, however, 'cause he was signing autographs when we got there, but cut the line off right in front of me so he could get back to work. I was soo disappointed, especially 'cause I was that close!

But Max really enjoyed watching him work, and the master was so good with kids and talked to Max while he worked.



Then we went home and I made Rob's favorite cupcakes:

And used our Darth Vader candle Holder in honor of Star Wars legos.

It was a great birthday, and it was Rob's idea of a great birthday.


The funny thing is, I think it was Max's kind of birthday too.

They never grow up, do they?

7 comments:

  1. fun birthday. love the pics. and the big watermark. especially on the funfetti cake mix. nobody better be stealing that photo, now!!! and hilarious about rob posing in front of people. and the workers thinking you were there for max, not rob.

    they never do grow up! :)

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  2. it looks like you guys had so much fun! i'm always struggling to find the right gift and the right way to celebrate for wes. He would have loved to do something like that. I enjoyed the pictures too!

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  3. sounds like it was a fun day! happy birthday, Rob.

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  4. That is such an awesome birthday!! Frank would have loved it just as much as Max and Rob!! What is it with boys and motorcycles and legos...Frank will be 37 this year and is still obssessed! I can't wait to check out that store! Love Max's hair cut!! He is so friggin adoreable!

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  5. That looks like so much fun! I love legos too. I think it is great you made him pose for some pics!

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  6. Welcome to the thirties club, Rob!

    I hadn't heard about that lego store in Raleigh. I guess I know where we're heading next time whit has an eye appt up there.

    I think that's so cool that you guys got to help build the huge yoda. i hope it's still there when we go.

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  7. So, so cute! Sounds like a perfect day!

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